MoM-z14 is the most distant known galaxy, with a redshift of z = 14.44. The galaxy was first imaged on May 16, 2025 by the NIRcam instrument aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). That image captured the galaxy during its formation about 280 million years after the Big Bang, during the Reionization Era of the early universe. This was the stage of cosmic evolution when neutral hydrogen began once again to ionize due to energy radiated by the earliest celestial objects. MoM-z14 is a remarkably luminous and compact galaxy, with an effective radius of only 241+49−39 light years, making it about one percent the size of the Milky Way. The very large degree of lookback present in high-z objects allows them to be imaged, as opposed to merely detected as points of light. This is because the light from MoM-z14 was emitted when it was far closer, and its source apparently larger, to the point in space which the space telescope that discovered it now occupies. It contains around 108 solar masses, somewhat less than the Small Magellanic Cloud's 3 billion M☉. At the time it was imaged, representing its appearance some 13.53 billion years ago, MoM-z14 appears to have gone through a period of rapid star formation. This enriched the metallicity of the galaxy to a level not presently accounted for in current models of early galaxy formation. This burst of star-formation also gave off large quantities of energetic photons, which have travelled through a virtually dust free interstellar medium (ISM), leaving the immediate surroundings of MoM-z14 partially ionized.
Discovery MoM-z14 was discovered on May 16, 2025 by 46 astrophysicists using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Telescopes launched prior to the JWST did not have mirrors large enough to detect light coming from these distant galaxies. The Spitzer telescope was an infrared telescope but was not large enough to detect MoM-z14. With its size and primary mission to study the assembly of galaxies, the JWST was able to detect MoM-z14. The naming originates from "Mirage or Miracle", a survey to observe atypically high zspec objects captured by the JWST, as part of several surveys to observe the oldest galaxies in our universe. The zspec of 14.44 indicates high redshift (or brightness in this case), hence the name "MoM-z14".
MoM-BH*-1 An object observed in the MoM-z14 galaxy by the James Webb space telescope has been identified as a quasi-star or black hole star. MoM-BH*-1 which formed 660m years after the big bang. It is the size of the Solar System and emits 100bn times more energy than any known star is capable of producing. The light produced by the object almost entirely at the red end of the spectrum. MoM-BH*-1 is one of many Little Red Dots, or LRDs detected by the telescope which may also be black hole stars.
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See also Age of the universe Chronology of the universe Dropout (astronomy) - filter dropouts. JADES-GS-z14-0 - previous record holder. List of the most distant astronomical objects
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